Most businesses distribute a significant amount of material through either the United States Postal Service, private couriers or intraoffice distribution systems. The materials being distributed include, for example, written correspondence, invoices, payments, return postcards or envelopes, and laminated plastic identification cards or plastic credit cards. The material being distributed invariably is inserted into an envelope to insure confidentiality, to protect the item being shipped, to prevent the separation of several items or to conform with requirements of the carrier. The envelope may be printed with the address of the entity to which the material is being sent. Alternatively, the envelope may be provided with a window through which address indicia on the material being sent is displayed.
Many businesses distribute an extremely large volume of material, and thus are equipped with large, sophisticated and expensive equipment for use in this distribution process. However, many businesses distribute a volume of material that exceeds the practical limits for manual insertion into envelopes, but which does not reach a volume that would justify the substantial expenditure required to purchase one of the currently available inserters. For example, a business that distributes a few hundred pieces of mail each day almost certainly could not justify the large expenditure of money and the substantial allocation of office space for the available inserters. Typically, this smaller company would direct a few of their clerical employees to devote the last hour or two of each day to stuff envelopes with the invoices, laminated cards, or other material produced during the course of the day. This procedure, of course, is very labor intensive, requires employees to be periodically diverted from other more productive tasks, and inherently includes a substantial probability of error. The most likely type of error in this manual insertion involves the improper collation of inserts with envelopes such that one addressee receives material intended for another.
Even if a small or medium size business invested the substantial sums to purchase an available inserter, the resulting product would have several significant disadvantages. The most obvious such disadvantage is the inflexibility of most such machines. More particularly, a machine adapted to insert invoices into envelopes could not readily be readapted periodically to distribute plastic identification cards or credit cards. Similarly, the known prior art machines could not conveniently switch from distributing some items with return envelopes and others without. The prior art machines also could not readily switch from folding the insert once to folding it several times. Furthermore, the typical prior art inserting apparatus has been substantially independent of other office equipment. Thus, an office that already had a printer, a plastic card embosser and/or an insert folder, could not readily enhance those existing machines with a functionally flexible inserter. If an inserter was purchased, it would not only be large and expensive, but also unable to be functionally integrated with the existing equipment. In most instances, the only choice available to the office manager would be the replacement of the existing equipment with a single, very costly and functionally inflexible piece of equipment to perform several functions.
An example of a typical inserting and distributing problem encountered in many companies involves the production and distribution of plastic identification or credit cards. These cards are widely distributed by stores, mail-order houses, employers, unions, schools and government agencies. Typically, the plastic cards and an explanatory letter to the cardowner are printed separately. These cards and letters then may be collated manually such that the card and the letter may be inserted in an envelope. The card may be adhesively fixed to the accompanying letter or may be incorporated into an array of retaining slots cut into the letter. In either case, this manual collation takes considerable time and presents the possibility of human error. Alternatively, the collation may be carried out mechanically by available equipment that applies adhesive to the cover letter and then secures the card to the adhesive. This equipment requires frequent cleaning to prevent clogging by excess adhesive. Additionally, the machine must be stopped periodically to insure that the plastic cards are being applied to the proper corresponding cover letter. This is especially important since the address on the cover letter often shows through a window on the envelope, and thus identifies the person who will receive the card. However, even with frequent stops for spot checking, there is a significant possibility that two offsetting collating errors will occur between spot checks, thereby providing certain people with incorrect credit or identification cards.
Another problem with prior art inserting devices has been ensuring that the envelope is opened to accept the insert. Some prior art devices have employed complex suction mechanisms to grab one or opposed sides of the envelope and to urge the envelope into a slightly opened condition for receiving the insert. Other prior art inserting devices have employed arrangements of mechanical fingers which are slid into the envelope to urge the envelope into a partially opened condition for receiving the insert. Devices that employ mechanical air pumps or other such suction sources add to the complexity, cost and noise of the system. Similarly, devices that employ mechanical fingers to open the envelope can also add to the complexity of the system. Components which add to the complexity of the system typically also add to the size of the inserter and to the cost, thereby rendering these prior art inserters less desirable for many small or medium businesses.
In view of the above, it is an object of the subject invention to provide an apparatus for inserting material into an envelope.
It is another object of the subject invention to provide an apparatus for collating materials to be inserted into an envelope.
It is an additional object of the subject invention to provide an apparatus for properly matching an identification or credit card to a proper cover letter.
It is a further object of the subject invention to provide an apparatus for securely enveloping a plastic card in a form addressed to the intended recipient of the card.
Another object of the subject invention is to provide a collating and inserting apparatus that can be readily adapted for use with existing office equipment.
Still another object of the subject invention is to provide a collating, folding and inserting apparatus that is small, lightweight and inexpensive.
An additional object of the subject invention is to provide a method for efficiently collating, folding and inserting materials into envelopes.
Still another object of the subject invention is to provide a form for securely enveloping a plastic card.
Yet another object of the subject invention is to provide an envelope for efficiently receiving materials to be inserted therein.